W.H. defends tack on terror trials

The Obama administration is moving to regain the upper hand in the political wars over terrorism by mounting a newly aggressive defense of its handling of the Christmas Day bombing suspect.

After enduring weeks of withering criticism from Republicans, Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday fired off a five-page letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and ten other Republicans who questioned why suspect Umar Abdulmutallab was interrogated for only 50 minutes, why he was later read Miranda warnings and why no consideration was given at the outset to placing him in military custody.

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Holder also defended the broader strategy of trying some alleged terrorists in the civilian criminal justice system.

“I made the decision to charge Mr. Abdulmutallab with federal crimes, and to seek his detention in connection with those charges, with the knowledge of, and with no objection from, all other relevant departments of the government,” Holder wrote. “I am confident that, as a result of the hard work of the FBI and our career federal prosecutors, we will be able to successfully prosecute Mr. Abdulmutallab under the federal criminal law. I am equally confident that the decision to address Mr. Abdulmutallab's actions through our criminal justice system has not, and will not, compromise our ability to obtain information needed to detect and prevent future attacks.”

Separately, the White House moved to deflect some of the soft-on-terror criticism Wednesday by declaring that no plea deal is on the table. “Abdulmutallab has not been offered anything,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters. “The Department of Justice takes his cooperation ‘into consideration.’”

The claim came as something of a surprise since Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan indicated last month that such a deal was “on the table.”

“Lawyers recognize that there is advantage to talking to us in terms of plea agreements, [and] we're going to pursue that,” he told CNN.

Among the flurry of disclosures were news leaks from the administration Tuesday that Abdulmutallab had resumed providing information to investigators and that FBI agents had enlisted his family in the effort to extract additional information from him. And on Monday, Brennan informed Congress that all known cases of “recidivism” among Guantanamo inmates involve those released by the Bush Administration.

Taken together, it’s the kind of muscular response of that many Democratic-leaning national security experts have been urging the White House and Justice Department to put forward for weeks.

“Republicans have gone pretty far out on a limb in their attacks on the Obama administration's handling of the failed underwear bomber. I'm glad Democrats are starting to use the facts to saw it off,” said Ken Gude of the liberal Center for American Progress think tank.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton said Wednesday he did not “necessarily agree” that the administration was taking a more aggressive tack, but added, “This administration is doing everything it can to both make sure the American people know exactly what's happening inside the administration, and also to answer questions that people might have, or challenges that might come, about the way that we're doing things.”